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During the American Idol finale a few weeks ago, nearly 63 million votes were cast. Now while LAist knows that there were probably 63 voters who called Taylor Hicks' or Katherine McPhee’s numbers a million times each, it still makes us mull over ways to get people just as excited about doing their civic duty and vote for the lawmakers, who are supposedly looking out for our best interests locally as well as in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.
Tomorrow, one of the bigger races will be between Phil Angelides and Steve Westly for the Democratic ticket to oppose incumbent governator Arnold Schwarzenegger in November. You've seen the ads.
But what do you think the turnout will be? Probably closer to 1 percent of the AI votes, we’re afraid. So what are ways we can get folks interested enough to vote? Should we make voting compulsory like other countries, with fines if you don’t vote? Should we develop more online voting resources that allows folks to vote from the comfort of their home on Election Day? What about paying people to vote?
LAist has another solution: The night before elections, hold a televised talent show for all candidates vying for office. Then open the phone lines to the public the next day. If anything, it’ll be fun to watch Ahnold belt out a rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner.”
Photo by Randy Levine via flickr.
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It's easy to blame the voters, but Los Angeles is constructed in such a way (maybe on purpose) to lessen political involvement. There are just too many cities butting against each other, so two neighbors could be voting for totally different local candidates. I think there is also too much to vote FOR on most election days, especially with all those complicated propositions in November. You need to bring reading material into the voting booth just to remember your choices. And, mostly, the local media does a horrendous job in covering the local elections. We really could use a another paper competing against the LA Times that focused more on local issues.
I think it is the responsibility of the local media to take a more active role in showcasing elections -- and not only when action movie stars are running.
you should fine people who do not cast a ballot; whether a vote is for someone or no one, a citizen's ballot must be cast or risk being fined. voting is a responsibility.